Dark Side

The revolutionary 3-D graphics technique, Freescape, made its debut late
last year in Driller, where an emergency mining operation was
carried out in order to save Evath’s distant moon, Mitral, from a
Ketar-engineered explosion.

It’s taken the Ketars 200 years to plan their revenge. This time they’ve
constructed a giant crystal weapon, known as Zephyr One, on Evath’s other moon,
Tricuspid. Intended to harness the sun’s energy and direct it at Evath, the
huge crystal is linked to a network of energy collection devices (EGOs). If the
EGOs are allowed to reach maximum power, Zephyr One fires and, with no chance
to retaliate, your planet explodes.

The mission — to shoot and disable the EGOs — is highly confidential. You are
dropped inconspicuously into a safe zone on the moon’s surface with the minimum
of equipment: space suit, jet-pack, quad lazers, a shield and a small supply of
fuel.

Tricuspid has 18 sectors including the dark and light sides of the moon. In
each, the 3-D landscape is observed through the viewing panel of the space
suit. Buildings, trees, walls and walkways stand out from the regular surface
of the moon. You can look up or down, rotate to view objects from any angle and
tilt to the right or left.

Tricuspid is a moon of many secrets: strange symbols mark its buildings,
tunnels are hidden beneath the ground and a range of places can only be
accessed by deciphering a series of puzzles. The EGO network itself needs to
be tackled strategically; a column linked to two other active EGOs regenerates
immediately when it is shot, so only ECDs with a single working connection can
be disabled permanently.

Powerporters (suspended slabs) provide instant teleportation. Restricted
areas can only be accessed via a telepod, but for security purposes, essential
telepod crystals have been hidden in various places around the moon.

Ketar defences click into action as you approach. Detector devices teleport
intruders into prison while plexors break down your shields as soon as you come
within range. However, dwindling power supplies can be boosted by walking into
fuel rods or shield pentagons.

Allow your energy to run down, fall into the grip of the plexors or fail to
complete the task in time, and Evath’s fate is sealed. Persevere long enough to
reach the final EGO on the moon’s dark side, though, and your distant homeland
might just survive...

CRITICISM

“The impossible has been done! Incentive have taken the best game of 1987,
improved on it, and made it one of the best games of 1988! There was no
doubting the excellence of Freescape — the graphics generation technique used
in Driller — but some criticised the lack of game content. This
criticism could in no way be levelled at Dark Side; it’s not just
a fast action game (albeit only 5% faster than its predecessor) requiring
accuracy and coordination but also a very strong strategy game — cartographers
will love it! My favourite feature of Dark Side is the way you can
enter a screen, turn on your jet-pack and zoom up to a great height, then look
down on the screen you’re about to encounter and plan your strategy. This and
Cybernoid must reign among the best games of the year so far. When
Dark Side came in for review I played it solid for almost a day,
and I can’t say that about many games nowadays!”

PAUL ... 95%

“Following the considerable success of Driller, the Freescape
technique has once again been used to incredible effect in Dark
Side (hopefully, though Incentive’s next enterprise will use Freescape
in a different fashion; it’s such a brilliant system, I would hate for each
successive game to become ‘just another Driller variant’).
Dark Side is an extremely captivating game, and after playing for
only a short while it’s possible to become totally absorbed in the proceedings.
For the player, the world of Tricuspid really exists: movement within the alien
environment is smooth and utterly believable, and the mission is all the more
absorbing because of it. The urge to explore is incredibly strong. In fact,
this high level of addiction proves to be the game’s greatest drawback:
cracking it won’t take long, simply because you cannot drag yourself away! The
useful save game feature is also a major conspirator to the game’s short
life-span. Either way, the experience is well worth the cost. If you want to
lose yourself for a couple of days, see the light: buy Dark Side.”

STEVE ... 96%

“Dark Side is one of the best presents you could give yourself if
you’ve just finished your exams. But don’t buy it before — you won’t get any
revision done! The depth and complexity of the Freescape environment is bound
to keep you glued to your screen. Hardly anything is as straightforward as it
looks; there’s always the chance of discovering a hidden tunnel or an unknown
passageway. The 3-D gives you a strong sense of really ‘being there’: you can
wander around, exploring buildings, searching passageways and fathoming the use
of unknown objects to your heart’s content. You alone determine the exact route
around the vast and hostile moon. The numerous puzzles draw on the best
elements of strategy, arcade action and adventure and can get quite tough but
there’s nothing like the pleasure of solving a problem that’s had you stumped
for several hours. If you’ve played Driller you won’t be able to
resist. If you haven’t, rush out and make up for what you’ve missed.”

KATI ... 94%

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, SinclairGraphics: super techniques and pixel accurate drawings make Freescape the leading graphics generation system currently being usedSound: atmospheric spot effects, but no tunesOptions: Load/Save gameGeneral rating:a game of Driller’s high calibre which creates its own complex environment and distinctive atmosphere — a game of the future